Iran to establish permanent station in Antarctica

Iran will establish a permanent station in South Pole by the next three years.

Managing Director of the Iranian National Institute for Oceanography (INIO) Vahid Chegini said one of the most fundamental technological achievements which would be fulfilled in South Pole is construction of research and logistic ice breaker ships, development of ice transportation technology, technology of textiles and South Pole clothes, ice drilling technology, the possibility of space experiments, progress in science and managing complicated jobs.

Chegini told ISNA establishing the station would include six major steps, adding creating a National Antarctica Research Center would be the first major step in which groups would work to examine different legal, political, economic, military and scientific aspects.

He stressed dispatching Iranian scientists to Antarctica along with foreign participants would be the second step and building equipments for settlement in Antarctica includes the third step.

The next step involves building first Antarctic logistic-research ice-breaker craft.

Transportation and settlement of the first Iranian summer station would be fulfilled in Antarctica in the 5th edition and the station would start to work in the sixth step after finding the current problems in Antarctica, gaining enough experiences and removing shortages.

Chegini referred to Antarctic Treaty and pointed out more than 40 countries have joined the treaty, most of which have established stations. India, Pakistan and Turkey are members of the treaty, and Arab countries including UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also dispatched their researchers as well.

The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively called the Antarctic Treaty System or ATS, regulate international relations with respect to Antarctica, Earth's only continent without a native human population. For the purposes of the treaty system, Antarctica is defined as all of the land and ice shelves south of 60°S latitude. The treaty, entering into force in 1961 and currently has 49 signatory nations, sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, establishes freedom of scientific investigation and bans military activity on that continent. The treaty was the first arms control agreement established during the Cold War. The Antarctic Treaty Secretariat headquarters have been located in Buenos Aires, Argentina, since September 2004.